Timothy, Ex-Doppelganger
by Syberian
Summary: "Athena chuckled and shook her head, stopping in front of Tim. They considered each other, gazes going up and down each other's form. She closed her eyes and shook her head before wrapping her arms around his chest pulling him in for a hug. He let out a chuckle before returning the same gesture." Athena and Timothy friendship. Reviews appreciated.


"You want me to do what?"

"I want you to allow one of my old colleagues into the city."

Lilith stared at Athena, her amber eyes wide with slight fury in them, as she made her request.

"Okay then. Why should I?"

Athena's shoulders sunk in annoyance. She knew it wasn't simple enough to ask the Crimson Raider leader a request this large. Lilith didn't completely trust her yet, even though the Eridian convinced her to stop her execution and allow her to live in Sanctuary. That had been a few weeks ago.

"It is a simple request. He is an old, trusted friend of mine who has asked to come to the city to have time to recuperate from a recent injury. He does not ask for medical assistance, so you wouldn't be losing any resources from his visit."

_Please consider it, please consider it, PLEASE CONSIDER IT._

Lilith's face creased in thought as she pondered over the possibilities. Her fingers anxiously tapped against the table, from which she leaned over, and eventually she sat up, looking directly into Athena's eyes.

"I am trusting you with this, he is your responsibility and if I get _any_ word that you and he have been causing trouble. Eridian, or not, you will both be kicked out of Sanctuary _the long way down_. Understood?" Lilith said, matter-of-factly. Her gaze bore straight into Athena.

A moment of silence between the two, the tension completely aware in the atmosphere. It was quiet enough that someone could easily hear the sound of a needle hitting the floor in the next room. Both didn't say a word, instead talking with their gazes as they considered what the other had offered. Athena gritted her teeth, considering the offer before making the decision.

"Understood."

Lilith nodded, and began to scribble numbers on a random piece of paper. Upon finishing, she gave it to Athena who took it. The gladiatrix walked to the doorway, only to pause and turn around.

"I will go ECHO him now,"

"You do that,"

Athena exited the Crimson Raider HQ and walked over to the secluded area that was Claptrap's place. No one dared go there, in fear of the annoying robot try to converse with them. Athena found comfort with the amnesiac robot, however. He didn't recognize her, and she was fine with that. With a small wave to the box shaped robot, she leaned against the wall beside his shack and began to type numbers in her ECHO recorder, before sending out a message to her friend.

"Get up here"

_-Athena_

With the Fast Travel code punched into the message as well, she patiently began to wait for a reply from him.

* * *

><p>She leaned against a wall, waiting patiently, by the Fast Travel node for his arrival. A few citizens gave her sideways glances before her scowl drove their gazes away from her's. She particularly disliked how nosy people were in this city, though she doubted it was their faults. Living in such a small city had to have consequences, seeing as how close-packed everyone had to live. It was clausotophic to some people, but to Athena it was akin to a homely feeling. Being in small spaces gave her comfort instead of the uncomfortable, large open areas that made up a good portion of the surface on Pandora, besides the bandit settlements of course.<p>

The Fast Travel node whirled to life, prompting Athena to stand up straight with her hands behind her back. Her disappoint showed through her slumped shoulders and her eyes as she saw only the Vault Hunters digistruct into arrival. Mumbling as they gave her awkward stares, she went back to leaning against the wall. Her arms were now across her chest in frustration and impatience as her thoughts began to ponder.

_Where the hell is he?_

Someone cleared their throat.

_Are the wounds worse than what he told me?_

A much more intrusive sound of someone clearing their throat.

_Or, perhaps, did his wounds finally do him in? Oh god, if they di-_

The sound of someone clearing their throat suddenly swelled up her left ear, as if whoever it was was right next to her. Her arm shot out, out of reflex, and grabbed their neck. She slammed them against the wall, hand on the handle of her sword. The Vault Hunter, Axton, went wide-eyed as he stared down at the young woman who had a grip on his throat, not yet to the point of choking, but gradually getting to it. She reluctantly let him go as she realized her mistake and let him feel to the floor.

"Don't do that," she warned him, before returning to the spot on the wall that she had previously occupied.

Her head turned to the Fast Travel node, impatience inching her skin as she waited. The Vault Hunters turned their gazes to the inanimate object, thoroughly confused. Except for Axton, who just kept a hand against his neck as he stared as floor. Eventually, Athena began to anxiously tap her fingers against her forearm.

"Who are you waiting for?" Maya asked, breaking Athena away from her thoughts.

Athena stared at the blue-haired Siren. While she didn't have many talks with any of the newest set of Vault Hunters, she nonetheless had respect for them.

"A colleague of mine,"

Maya nodded, accepting her answer easily. Salvador and Axton, however, didn't seem so convinced.

"Who?" Axton asked, slowly getting up off the floor.

"An old friend of mine who is injured and in need of help," Athena said, vaguely. No, she didn't want to tell them _exactly who_ it was. It didn't concern them.

"Who?" Axton repeated.

"It does not concern you exactly whom it is."

"I think it doe-"

The Fast Travel node roared to life again to signify someone was coming to Sanctuary. Athena stood, attentively, as she waited patiently for whomever it was to come through the digistruct network. With the other Vault Hunters at her side, she watched a cloaked figure digistructed into the station.

He looked around, the hood's shadow covering up his eyes and nose. A large, blood-red bandage was wrapped around his chest and another was wrapped around his left forearm. Pale yellow, triangular contraptions were attached to his wrists, scratches adorned them. A Jakobs revolver was strapped across the side of his right thigh; a Maliwan corrosive sniper rifle across his back. A few pouches were sewn into his left pants leg, a few bulging to show they had something in them. His gaze stopped on Athena, and a smiled formed on his lips as the same did for her's.

The mysterious man lifted his hands to his hood and let it fall across his shoulders. A small gasp came from the Vault Hunters who stood at her side as they saw his face. A deep, horrid scar of the shape of a Vault symbol was burned into his face. It went across his left eye, yielding the iris and pupil to be burnt off leaving only a white sphere. His right eye had escaped the blindness, showing a dark brown colored eye. His hair was a brown color, slightly tangled with dirt and blood in it. A fresh cut was on is upper lip along with a pink scar going down the side of the bottom lip. Athena took a step forward, a humurous glint in her eyes.

"Timothy Andrew Lawrence the II. Ex-doppelganger, current mercenary, all-around prick of the galaxy. I could go on, but I won't- but I could," she said, walking circles slow circles around his form as he tried to keep his eye on her.

"Athena, this surely isn't fair! I can't play the same name game with you," Timothy argued.

The Vault Hunters flinched at his voice. It was broken, to put it short. It was as if someone had stuck a short-circuited piece of machine into his throat and forced it to coordinate with his vocal chords.

Athena chuckled and shook her head, stopping in front of Tim. They considered each other, gazes going up and down each other's form. She closed her eyes and shook her head before wrapping her arms around his chest pulling him in for a hug. He let out a chuckle before returning the same gesture.

"You look like shit, Tim" she state bluntly.

"I would say the same, but you weren't mauled by a pack of skags."

"Be happy it was just skags, remember that time with the torks?"

He suddenly lifted her off the ground and shook gently her from side to side, roaring with laughter. The atmosphere brightened exponentially, and even the Vault Hunters had to crack a smile at the site. Athena, the mask of stoic-ness, was having a laugh with "Timothy", an old friend. Even that had impressed them as they usual saw her with the same facial expression everytime they had the chance to gaze at her face: a scowl.

"Ah, this just isn't the same without Aurie here," Timothy said, dropping Athena from his arms and letting her land on the floor.

"I'm sure she's hanging around somewhere,"

Timothy looked up, finally noticing that other people were in the room.

"Who are these lads?" he asked, pointing a finger at the group.

"'Lads?'" Axton said, confused.

Athena took his wrist and led him over to them, stopping in front of the first one: Zer0.

"This is Zer0, an assassin."

_"Salutations, friend./ It's good to see someone new/ Same faces get old."_

A red ':(' appeared on his face before a ':)' replaced it as he shook Timothy's hand.

"Haiku, eh? Interesting form of speech, friend."

Athena waved a hand at the stunted form of Salvador who smiled brightly. Salvador shook Timothy's hand with a tight grip to the point where he screwed his face up in pain.

"I killed your boss," Salvador said, giddily.

"Ex-boss, but thank you for the information." Timothy corrected him, taking his hand away and rubbing the palm of it.

Athena waved for Maya to come closer, to which the latter did.

"This is Maya, a Siren."

Maya gladly accepted Timothy's handshake, giving a small smile in return to Timothy's.

"A Siren? Like Lilith is? Interesting to see another one." Timothy remarked, motioning his hand to Maya's tattoos.

"I'm one of a kind, I guess." Maya replied, lifting her hand up to create a miniature phaselock in the palm of it.

Athena pointed to Axton.

"Ex-Dahl, not the Lost Legion,"

"Lost Legion?" Axton questioned as he shook Timothy's head, looking in Athena's direction.

"Buncha assholes on Elpis we had to take care of. Weren't so bad, but were extremists." Timothy explained.

"Oh..."

Athena began to drag Timothy over to Gaige, only for a large, burly man to appear in front of them. Krieg stared, intimidately, down at Timothy who had to crane his head upwards to look him in the eye. A moment of silence followed as they stared at each other, Krieg with a concentrated gaze and Timothy with a confused one.

"MEAT FRIEND!" Krieg yelled, picking Timothy up in a hug.

"H-hi?" Timothy squealed out as his back cracked and ribs constricted.

Krieg put him down and gave his head a gentle pat, the total opposite of what he did before. Athena continued to drag him over to Gaige, who looked up at Timothy with interest.

"Hello," Timothy greeted, holding out his hand.

"H-hi!" Gaige responded, shyly shaking his hand.

After the greetings had been placed, Timothy retook his place at Athena's side. His hands were stuck in his pants pockets, and a small sheen of sweat graced his forehead. Athena looked worriedly at his current condition.

"C'mon, we're taking you to Zed's to buy med hypos," she said, taking Timothy by the elbow and beginning to drag him away.

Timothy refused to budge, instead a mischevious glint in his eyes and a smile to adorn it.

"I just got here and if I remember I still owe you a drink," he said, instead taking the role of the leader and pulling Athena away by her wrist.

She rolled her eyes as they exited the building, the Vault Hunters watching them as their backs were turned. They entered Moxxi's Bar and sat at a private booth, the loud techno music already giving her a headache. Timothy didn't seem any better, as he covered his ears and closed his eyes in pain. The music volume began to lower as Moxxi walked over to their booth and gave a small nod, seeing the two of them give her grateful smiles.

After a round of drinks were ordered, Timothy laid his legs across the length of the seat and leaned back against the wall. He looked up at the ceiling, eyes tracing the cracks in the drywall.

"How have you been?" Athena asked.

"Hungry for the most part. Bleeding for the smaller,"

Athena snorted, covering her mouth in an attempt to stop from laughing.

"You think that's funny? You and your skinny self should know what it feels to be hungry!"

"Yeah, I know what it feels. Doesn't make it any less comical to see _Handsome Jack's ex-clone_ complaining about hunger,"

"That Handsome Jackass had it coming to him, ruining his beautiful face. Ruining my beautiful face. I was rugged, handsome, hot. I was-"

"-and still are, a prick."

The mix of Timothy's humour and Athena's quick remarks let a light atmosphere drift in the booth. They were comfortable with talking this way, to each other.

"Damn, it's so surreal," Timothy exclaimed.

"How so?"

"I never thought we'd be here again. In a bar, owned by Moxxi, having a good laugh and a nice drink. Almost makes me think about Concordia. Almost."

"Nostalgia is a helluva thing."

"I could drink to that!"

Athena let her gaze wonder his form. He had grown taller, muscle apparent under his shirt. He was also more open about things. Instead of staying shy and reserved, he was now talkative and took the initiative to start conversations. Nothing like the awkward, naive man she had first met.

"You've grown," Athena told him, "Nothing like that awkward shrimp I first met on the rocket."

"This shrimp grew into a crawfish, if I do say so myself," Timothy said, punctuating his remark by flexing his arm.

Athena rolled her eyes at his remark and leaned back against the leather cushion of the booth. Her eyes wandered across his chest where the bloody bandage, was well... bloody.

"Explain to me again: How did those skags maul you?"

"Well you see it's a funny story-"

"Oh boy,"

"-I was working on cleaning the scope of my Bumblebroth when a skag pup came up behind me. I didn't think of it, cause I was busy with my sniper, when another one came up behind me! Then another, and another, and another, and ano-"

"Another, before eventually a whole pack of them were behind you?"

"You see my point! Then they all jumped me like some bloody gang! I ended up having send my holograms out, there were too many of those bloody bastards. One of the biggens managed to get a good hit on my chest, and another bit my arm!"

Athena shook her head, clearly unimpressed by his story.

"You. Are. A. Dumbass."

"Touche."

A sudden idea popped in Timothy's head, a devilish smirk gracing his lips.

"I don't like that smirk," Athena warned.

"You, me. Bullymong wrestling. Let's go."

Athena's face deadpanned as she looked at Timothy, who had the appearance of having the smartest idea ever in the history of smart ideas.

"You're hurt."

"You've seen me worse!"

She thought it over, her eyes having the usual glassy appearance of her churning possibilities in her head. Timothy waited patiently, occassionally tapping his finger against the table.

"Fuck it, fine."

Timothy smiled and the duo got up, Athena leaving a small wad of cash to pay for the drinks, they hadn't even touched during the conversation, on the table. She ran after him, coming up beside him as they entered the station containing the Fast Travel.

"This is a bad idea," she warned him.

"All good ideas start out as bad," he concided, making his way to the Fast Travel node.

_I re-state that. He's changed physically, not mentally._

**Author's Note: Headcanon on my blog that Athena and Timothy treat each other like siblings :). Also, Wild West Pyro I did put a little Gaige thing in here for you. Brownie points if you get the "Aurie" reference. Thanks for reading.**


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